Pride Pals
by TheArchimage
Summary: Four very good friends go to their first Pride festival together.
1. Frisk

AN: I wrote this in honor of Pride Month. Hopefully I can finish the whole thing before the end of June, but we'll see.

* * *

The weather was nice and Asgore's house was only a couple blocks away, so Asriel and Frisk decided to walk over. Asriel carefully balanced the two plates, the small plate on top of the larger one, while Frisk rang the doorbell. In only a moment Asgore opened the door. "Good morning, children. Oh! Are these muffins?"

"Yup!" Asriel said. "Mom made 'em for us this morning. The ones on the top plate are for you, and the rest are for us to share. She said to think of it as a reward for driving us down and keeping an eye on us today."

Asgore laughed, his belly rumbling. "I need no payment for that, but if she's offering I won't turn it down." He took the plate from Asriel to lighten his burden and ushered the kids inside. "Should we save these for after we pick up your friend?"

Asriel explained, "The plan is to eat breakfast first and then drive over to MK's. We can save them a muffin or two but they said they'd eat breakfast before we got there."

"Their loss," Asgore said with a smile. "Then I will not hesitate to 'chow down', as you kids like to say. Why don't you go wake Chara up, Frisk? I wanted to let them sleep in because I knew they had a big day today, but I suppose it can't be put off any longer."

Frisk nodded, immediately running to take the steps two at a time. They burst into Chara's room with a bounce in their step. "Chaaaaaa~raaaaaa!" they sung. "Rise 'n' shine!"

A pair of red eyes opened a crack and settled on them with unconcealed malice. Chara pulled the blankets over their head and made an unintelligible mumble that Frisk translated as something like, "Not even _you_ get to wake me up this early."

Frisk countered with, "You asked me to remind you of your promise to go to Pride." Another whine of protest emanated from the pile of blankets. "_Aaaaaand_ you promised not to get mad about it." The grumble this time had the air of an enby defeated, and the creature within rose up. Chara peeked out from a hole in the blanket mound with bleary eyes and sagging cheeks. "C'mon, Mom made us muffins for breakfast and I brought some for you." Chara opened their eyes slightly and one arm slithered out from their blanket to make grabby-motions with their hand. "Oh no, you're not eating them in bed. Get dressed and come downstairs, then you can have one." Chara shook their fist in impotent rage but began extricating themself from the blankets. They were wearing mint green sleepwear, a button-up shirt and pants with a drawstring. Their hair stuck out from their head at odd angles and they squinted at Frisk in the morning light that was still too much. Frisk skipped up to their bedside and wheedled, "Would you like a good morning kiss to take the edge off?"

"Haven't brushed," Chara protested weakly. "M' breath's gross."

"Don't care," Frisk replied. "You're worth it." Chara gave in and craned their neck upward just long enough for Frisk to give them a peck on the lips. Then they gave Chara's head a quick hug. "We don't have to march in the parade, and we can leave early if it gets to be too much," they cooed, caressing Chara's head with calming pats. "It really means a lot to me that you're going at all. So don't push yourself any more than you're okay with." Chara nodded, then put their fingers around the top button of their sleepwear and left them there for a moment. Frisk understood the gesture; while it would be nice to watch their datefriend undress, it would probably be a bad idea to do anything while their brother and Chara's dad were waiting for both of them. "I'll see you downstairs," they said as they left, to which Chara nodded. "I'll save you the choco chip ones. Don't go back to sleep now!" Then they shut the door to give Chara privacy.

* * *

In most cases, pansexuality did not mean the person would hit on everyone around them. In Frisk's case, though, that was exactly what they were like in junior high. They quickly gained a reputation for going through lovers like most people went through bottled water. Boy, girl, monster, human, they were all attractive and fun in their own way. They really did enjoy themself and did not honestly mean any harm. It was just that whoever they were dating always lacked something. They were never quite satisfied, and usually after only a few days the magic would fade and they would casually break up with them. Frisk was so notorious they earned a nickname, though one that was never said to their face: "Arcade". As in, "anyone can play, no one can win." Despite their romantic capriciousness they were loyal to whoever they were dating at the time, and though they were physically affectionate they never let things progress too far. This helped them avoid being labeled a slut, though perhaps their very public beating of the one guy who falsely claimed to have slept with them also had something to do with it. Not even their mom blamed them for that one.

It was not as though they had a habit of dating bad people, though there were a few of those. Rather, they compared each person they dated to Chara and found their current squeeze came up wanting. 'They aren't as smart as Chara.' 'They don't have Chara's charm.' 'They don't get me the way Chara does.' 'I don't feel as safe around them as I do around Chara.' The obvious solution would have been to date Chara instead but they did not dare ask. Chara was emotionally skittish, longing for connection but terrified of getting too close to other people. This did not change as they got older, only altered in tone. Whereas Chara the child would have avoided contact with anyone they were not already familiar with, Chara the teenager hid behind a false smile and cordial but cold conversation. They felt Chara only tolerated Frisk's presence because they owed them a lot and Frisk did not ask for much relatively. A romantic relationship would have been too much; Chara would quickly become annoyed by the demands and withdraw, and things would never be the same between them. So Frisk continued to pine throughout most of junior high, leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake.

As it turned out the situation had not been as hopeless as they thought. At the tail end of 8th grade Chara and Frisk ended up confessing their feelings for one another and started dating. It was not as simple as all that, of course, but that was a story for another time.

* * *

By the time Frisk got back downstairs Asriel had laid down the plate down in the center of the dining room table and was already a quarter of the way through his first muffin. Banana-nut, it looked like. Frisk pulled up a seat and took a blueberry one (the best kind!) for themself. "Chara will be down in a minute," they said. "Just leave them the chocolate chip ones."

"Goes without saying, really," Asgore chuckled. "Although, I would have expected them to grow out of that by now. You know, expand their palette a little."

"They have the taste buds of a five year old," Frisk sighed.

Asriel shrugged. "No complaining from you, you're the one dating them," he reminded them, sending a little thrill up their spine. Yes, yes they were. Heeeeeee.

Chara's coming was heralded by heavy footfalls coming down the steps followed by zombie-like shuffling through the living room. Chara's eyes were open only as tiny slits as they trudged into the kitchen. They slid into their chair without a word, not looking at anyone.

Asgore smiled. "Good morning, Chara! All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?" Chara responded by taking a chocolate chip muffin and stuffing the cap into their mouth, leaving it there as though biting and chewing would require too much effort. "Anyway," Asgore said, putting their sleep-deprived child's antics aside for the moment. "I'm sure you remember, I would only take you three to the Pride festival if you completed all your homework for the weekend. Now, I know you completed your math problems, Chara told me when they got home last night. But did you do the reading for History?"

Frisk nodded. "The reading was about Gandhi. He fought…" They took a deep breath, as though they needed a running start to finish the sentence. "… British call-own-knee-a-lizm. He got mocked, and hit, and even jailed, but in the end he won. And he did it without ever fighting back!"

Asriel thought about that for a moment and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I can see why you'd respect that."

"Most days I'm good," Frisk admitted. "But… I get mad, every so often. He never slipped up. I'd like it, if I could be more like him."

"This Gandhi fellow," Chara asked, seemingly disinterested. They had removed the muffin from their mouth without finishing their bite, leaving teeth-marks in a semi-circle in the glazing. The first warning sign ought to have been that they looked much more awake now after being all but dead a very short time ago. "Was he rich?"

Frisk shook their head. "Not at all. He was very poor his whole life. He would go a long time without eating anything a lot."

"Hm," Chara responded, continuing to study their muffin and carefully removing the paper one crease at a time. "So he walked everywhere, even though he didn't even have a pair of shoes to protect his feet."

"Prob'ly." That was kind of a weird thing to focus on. Asriel stared at Frisk intently from the other side of the table, trying to telepathically warn them about something.

Chara continued their 'idle' musing, "Maybe he didn't even own a toothbrush, and on a poor man's diet his breath probably reeked. And if he fasted all the time he couldn't be that strong, physically. In his pictures he looks sort of spindly."

Asriel's warning reached Frisk too late. They shared a wary glance with their half-brother. "I… suppose so?"

"How curious," Chara said as they finally looked up, an evil grin coming to their face and confirming all of Frisk's worst fears. "Then I guess you could call him a _super-calloused fragile mystic hexed with halitosis._" Chara beamed, incredibly pleased with themself. Asgore guffawed loudly, nearly choking on a bite of his own muffin. Even Asriel was snickering with one paw over his mouth to try and fail to keep in the giggles.

Frisk's bloodstream caught fire. Seeing as they were surrounded by traitors Frisk pushed themself away from the table. "I'll be outside!" they tossed over their shoulder. They stopped, went back to the table to grab their muffin and an apple-cinnamon one besides, then stormed out the front door to a chorus of laughter.


	2. Asriel

AN: Due to my moving crisis I haven't been able to work on this fic as much as I've wanted to. It's very doubtful that I will be able to finish before the end of the month. So, sorry about that. I will try to have it finished as soon as I can.

I do touch on the Chasriel ship in this chapter but I want to be clear: I don't have anything against it or those who ship it, but my Chara and Asriel would not work as romantic partners for several reasons (some of which has to do with events in the plotline of The Munificent Seven that I'm not at liberty to discuss at this time). Personally I feel the two of them work best as siblings _or_ as lovers, but not both.

* * *

Asgore's minivan (or as Chara called it 'The _Daddy_-wagon') had two sets of seats in the back part of the cabin as well as a sizable passenger's seat. Asriel of course took the passenger-side seat, being taller and bulkier than both his adopted half-siblings and still not done growing. Frisk got into the back seat and wedged themself into the far corner. Chara was about to join them, but apparently sensed something in Frisk's body language Asriel must have missed and sat in the opposite back corner. The whole ride over to MK's house Frisk leaned to the side with the left tip of their forehead against the window. Asgore tried to start a conversation a few times but met with stony silence by the humans and polite, non-committal responses to his co-parented child he quickly gave up.

Asgore parked in MK's driveway and had not even gotten his phone out to text him when MK ran out the door, dressed in a solid shirt with a backwards baseball cap on his head, his head spikes sticking out through the hole in the cap. The door of the van opened up for him and he bounded inside. "Yo!" he greeted.

"Hello!" "Heya!" "Hey." "Greetings."

Asgore leaned over the side from the driver's seat to make sure MK got in okay. Chara watched him enter with a look that could only be called 'wary'; their hand gripped their knee in a way which suggested their anxiety was already dangerously high. Frisk continued looking out the window, not even turning to say their greeting to MK. After all, that would mean turning towards Chara.

MK took the middle seat all to himself, looking from Chara to Frisk before asking Asriel, "What's up with those two?"

"Trouble in paradise," Asriel said in a stage whisper. "Chara baited them into a pun and Frisk is being sore about it."

His eyes widened. "Woah, that must've been some pun."

"It was _glorious_," Chara reveled, to which Frisk only huffed. "Hey, I promised not to get mad at being woken up early, I never said I wouldn't get even."

"Hmph," Frisk sighed, continuing to look out the window. Chara was still smiling but there was a nervous edge to it.

MK asked, "So what was it? The joke?"

"There was too much setup to repeat," Asriel said. "I'll tell you later." Asriel's eye flicked over to Frisk for a brief moment and MK got the hint: having another person laugh at Chara's joke right in front of them would upset them all over again.

"All right," Asgore said, slipping the car into reverse. He turned his head to look behind the van, leaning so far he needed to put one hairy arm on Asriel's headrest for balance. "Off we go!"

* * *

The only time they brought it up was when they were both twelve. Chara was sitting on the bed with their back to Asriel, which could have been a signal that they did not want to talk but Asriel decided it was more likely they were trying to keep their book in the best light and did not realize the message it was sending to their half-brother. Asriel was sitting at the computer chair but not using the computer. He was poking something on his phone, was it a game or was he on social media?, he could not remember anymore but it was not particularly important. He had been focusing on something else. "Hey, Kar?" he ventured. Chara made a hum of acknowledgment, not sounding annoyed or dismissive but perhaps a little distracted. "Do you ever wonder if… you know, if things went differently, that we would have gone out together? Underground?"

Chara scoffed without looking away from their book, "God, that would have been a disaster." He could not help but feel a little offended, but he decided to let Chara finish their thought before getting outraged. "Everyone and their grandmother knows the trauma cocktail I was drunk on, and the Underground didn't have the resources or know-how to even begin detoxing that mess. They also did not have any books or resources about what happens to a human's body as they age, nor could they manufacture those lovely little pills that keep me semi-functional in a society I despise. I can't imagine where I would be as an unmedicated preteen getting ambushed by puberty in the Kingdom of Monsters."

Asriel really wanted to protest against their characterization of themself, but he had to admit the Chara he knew now was much different from the Chara he knew then, and mostly in good ways. "It's just… we were really close back then, remember?"

"The word you're looking for is 'codependent', we were codependent," they said with finality. They leaned backwards and dangled their head off the bed upside-down, their hair falling straight down like a curtain. Their eyes were shining in that way they got when they found an opportunity to share obscure knowledge with someone they were pretty sure did not already know it. "It means each of us used the other as our sole means of emotional support. It's very unhealthy, because any friction or problem in that relationship damages not just your identity but leaves you without an emotionally healthy outlet. Turning our relationship romantic would have exacerbated those issues while discouraging us from seeking real solutions. Even ignoring all that, I'd still be ace and you'd still be gay."

(Chara was not actually asexual but neither of them knew that at the time.)

"But we could have, right? We could have been in love, at least for a little while?"

"We probably would have given it a try but I don't see how it could have ended well. Why are you so concerned about this? It's not like a romantic relationship is a friendship that's leveled up, Ree. It's a fundamentally different thing. Just because we never dated and are never going to date doesn't make us worse friends."

"I guess," Asriel conceded. Part of it was, he wanted to understand how their relationship had changed. They were not as close now as they were Before. And maybe that was a good thing. But thinking about what might have been left him feeling wistful.

After he started dating he understood what they were trying to say. His relationship with Chara was still stronger than what he had with any of the boys he had gone out with, but the tone was different. It burned hotter but faster, and from the moment he felt that first spark of attraction he knew at once Chara had been right.

* * *

Even though they arrived relatively early the park was still bustling. Rainbow-colored banners flew from several streetlights and unfurled down the sides of nearby buildings. It was a warm day, so thin shirts and short shorts were the apparel of the day. The crowd was fairly evenly split between human and monster, which Asriel really should not have been so surprised by. Monsters did not really 'get' why it was important for humans to celebrate non-heterosexual or non-gender-conforming people but they did not need much of an excuse to enjoy a party. Some food stands off to the right offered grab-'n'-go food. He had no idea how Sans mustered up the effort to complete all the forms and inspections necessary to run his hot dog stand here, but he supposed it helped to have a brother in government. Asriel was not quite tall enough to see over the heads of the crowd and see his way to everywhere else; perhaps his father was, but if he saw anything the rest of them could not he did not share his findings. Instead Asgore rubbed his beard and took in the crowd. "It all seems fairly quiet," he mused. "Perhaps your mother was being too over-protective. You don't… really need to stay stuck to your old man the whole day, right? Ha ha…" There was a part of him that looked lost, though he was trying to put on a brave face. He would let the teens loose if that was what they wanted, but it would make him sad if his kids considered him a burden or a stodgy chaperone. Even, or even precisely, if that was what he was.

Chara shrugged. "I don't think it would be too rough, this is a sober Pride event after all. I suppose… we could split up? So we can each visit the places we want to without being distracted?" There was a vague unease in their voice, a tentative resignation in their plastic smile. They were looking everywhere except at Frisk. Gee whiz, really you two? Maybe Chara shouldn't have dropped a bombshell pun first thing in the morning, but Frisk was taking their irritation way too far. Asriel inhaled through his nose, preparing to have to talk with one or both of them.

Frisk sidled over to Chara, looking a bit sheepish. "Well… we can split up and still go the same way, right?" They had a tiny smile on their face, and their hand reached out tentatively.

Chara considered Frisk for a moment before their smile eased into a more natural position, their shoulders lost their tension, and the hunted look in their eyes receded. "Yeah… yes, of course. If you'd like." Chara placed their hand in Frisk's and they both breathed out a relieved chuckle. Oh, looks like they made up on their own this time. It was good they were learning to sort themselves out now, even if it did make him a bit lonely if they did not need him to put out their fires anymore.

"Now that _that's_ settled," MK huffed. He held up a brochure, folded open to the map and stuck to the end of his tail with red magic. "How about we head to the, uh, Rose Stage? Mettaton is supposed to be putting on a concert there later, but if we get there early his opening act is-"

"Yo, Azzy! You made it!"

They all stopped and looked up at the familiar voice. Asriel smiled. "Ric! Good to see you!"

Ricardo was a human boy and Asriel's first boyfriend from his junior high days. These days cross-species romances were… to call them "common" would be stretching the word to the breaking point, but they were not that much of an oddity. There were his own boyfriends, of course. Both his parents had flings with human partners as well. (Probably for the same reason his past boyfriends had both been human; monsters were simply too intimidated to hook up with a Boss Monster. It was true that the Kingdom of Monsters had been disbanded, but to many monsters dating royalty was still too intimidating. Heck, MK was one of the few monsters who spoke to him as something like an equal.) There was the brief period of time Sans was going out with seven women at once but nobody, least of all Sans, wanted to bring that up. Heck, right now by the food stands he saw Muffet in a six-armed jacket and cutoff jeans with her short hair let down, feeding a Nice Cream to her human lover Aofil. Asriel did not know Aofil well but he got the strangest feeling the two of them would have been very close if the past few years had gone differently.

Ricardo looked Asriel up and down, mostly up. Asriel had aged well in the past year; the last of his baby fat had disappeared and his muzzle had grown more pronounced. His horns had grown in and curved back, not as much as his father's but longer than his mother's. His fur was still white but now it matted down closer to his skin, giving him a sleek, handsome look while finally defeating the troublesome cowlick which had plagued the top of his head for years. Ricardo whistled, "Man, look at you! Some guys have all the luck."

Asriel's smile thinned. "Hm, 'luck'. Yeah, let's call it that." Asriel had no desire to get into the details. Since he started to become less of a boy and more of a man he had been attracting the wrong kind of attention, especially from the internet. For the furry community monsters were a dream come true and they were not shy about showing their enthusiasm. Most furries were good people, actually the overwhelming majority were good people. But some of them. _Some _of them. The first time he and Chara had found a website counting down the seconds until Asriel turned 18 Chara had become supremely upset, to the point where it took him most of the evening for him to calm them down enough to articulate why they were so bothered. Once they explained he felt… spiky, like he had blood vessels and all of them grew thorns at once. Because ah, there were humans who were not shy about sharing that the law was the only reason they were not lusting after children. This was the side of humanity his parents tried to ignore, the side Chara was constantly trying to warn him about. It was a revelation which was not worth the three sessions of therapy it took for him to work through.

"Oh hey," Ricardo nodded toward Asriel's half-siblings and their clasped hands. "You're with Chara and Frisk. You two are still together? That's awesome." Frisk nodded happily and made an affirmative hum; Chara smiled but stepped slightly behind Frisk to shield themself. Ricardo then turned toward MK, looking a little less sure of himself. "And it's good to see you too, uh…"

MK laughed, not offended in the slightest. "Nobody ever remembers the whole thing, just call me MK."

"Right!" he laughed. "Sorry, I wanted to show off by remembering your full name but I guess it looked like I forgot you. Hey, I was gonna get something to eat, wanna join me? Catch up on old times?"

"Maybe later," Asriel said. "We just got here and ate a big breakfast before, so we'll be good for a while. You still have my number, right? Don't wait for me to call you, call me first. 'Cause it's good to see you again, just… let us get settled in first."

"Yeah, sure!" he promised, checking his phone to make sure he really did still have the number. "Sorry I haven't been in contact-"

"No worries, I'm going through the same thing right now so I know how it is. We'll see you around." They parted with a final lingering stare, each of them thinking whether they still would have been together if they had not gone to different schools and decided to amiably separate rather than do what for teenagers without cars qualified as 'a long-distance relationship'.

* * *

AN: The incident where Sans dated seven women is described in The Skeleton Mambo.  
Aofil is from the One Falls Anthology by Congar, and appears with permission.


	3. Chara

AN: Here's chapter 3 of Pride Pals, only a month and a half late! And chapter 4 is going to be even later! Ha ha ha, kill me. Also, I have never received a tattoo so I don't know whether you can actually get one outside of a parlor, but I figure it's not that different from getting a piercing? If you can't get a tattoo at Pride you should be able to, that's how I feel.

* * *

They wandered around the outskirts of the crowd, taking in a few of the shows and seeing a few of the bands. There were a number of people more flamboyant than the four of them, but this was a sober event so no one was getting too out of hand. Still, Chara tried to be mindful of their emotional state. It would be better for them to retreat to a quiet place for a few minutes to catch their breath than to push themself straight into a meltdown. They were a bit high-strung at the moment, browsing the various shops selling t-shirts, pins, and other sundry items while waiting for their nerves to settle. One stall was selling crocheted stuffed animals with cute smiling faces alongside more standard fare. It was this shop that Frisk stopped in front of. They put a finger on their lip thoughtfully before picking up a pin and setting it against their shirt. "Come on, guess," they said to Chara.

Chara stared at the pin's colors: fuschia, purple, cyan, with a white heart shape in the middle with an arrow pointing up. This had to be an obscure flag, maybe even unofficial. They had not seen a flag like this when they were first doing research on gender and sexual identity, either before they fell into the underground or after their revival, but Frisk was showing it off like it meant something. They gave up and looked at the booth's placard. Next to a symbol identical to the one Frisk held up was the description: 'Androgynalsexual. Attraction to people with both male and female or non-gender-specific features.' The androgynous Chara narrowed their eyes. Frisk replaced the pin on the table and waggled their eyebrows meaningfully.

Chara shook their head and accused with a pointing finger, "_You_, are incorrigible."

"That word means I'm cute, right?" Frisk batted their eyelashes, showing off their red irises for just a moment.

Chara sighed, defeated. "You know it." They gave each other a peck on the lips and Frisk squealed with glee.

"Baaaaaaaaarf," Asriel deadpanned. Frisk stuck out their tongue, but Chara had enough presence of mind to be at least a little embarrassed. Which made Asriel direct his next line at Chara: "Time was, when Mom and Dad acted like that you'd think it was gross."

"Maybe I've gotten a little perspective on it," they mused. "If you tire of our company, Ric's probably done eating by now. If you wanted to talk, or not talk, or whatever."

Asriel raised an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting? I thought you hated him."

"I didn't hate him more than any other human," they teased, smirking as they imagined the disapproving looks Asriel and Frisk were giving them. "If you want him, go get him. Ignore your misanthropic sibling for a bit. After everything you deserve to be a little selfish."

"It's not that," Asriel sighed. "It's… We broke up rather than continue going out while attending different schools for all sorts of reasons and they all still apply. I don't want to start anything up again if it's just going to be for today."

Chara folded their arms and nodded. They understood that very well. "Alright, I won't pester you about it any more."

"Hey dudes!" MK called out, alerting them that he had already moved over to the next stall. "They got a tattoo station here!" Frisk bounded over with an "ooh!" of excitement, letting Chara know they had best not fall behind lest their datefriend do something drastic.

* * *

When they were eleven, one of Frisk's monster friends had found a human porno and surreptitiously gathered some of their friends to watch it, the way young children do when they believe more accomplices in the crime will diffuse the punishment for getting caught. Chara had somehow gotten roped into it and found themselves profoundly disinterested. They wished they could say they were disgusted, but that implied some kind of emotion toward it at all. The story was amateurish, the cinematography basic, and the actions onscreen were repetitive and lifeless. The monsters made faces and Frisk had covered their eyes with their hands while watching through a gap in their fingers, but Chara started playing on their phone five minutes in and only caught occasional glances through the rest of the movie's runtime. Sweaty naked bodies slapping against each other? They were risking getting in trouble for this?

The difference between them and everyone else only became more pronounced as they grew older. People began to be described as "hot" or "sexy", but Chara had no frame of reference for what they were talking about. Classmates started talking about people they "_like_-liked" and thought Chara was the weird one for not understanding them. At first everyone thought they were a late bloomer or something, but Chara felt the same way as the school year continued and more and more people got involved in the idiocy. Finally MK made the suggestion that they were asexual and aromantic. At the time it felt right, so they accepted the label.

Then, one night towards the end of summer before their last year of junior high, Frisk decided to come over to Chara's house to watch a late night movie together. Chara had admonished Frisk not to try to keep to their sleep schedule, but Frisk insisted they would be able to stay up to watch the whole thing. They utterly failed; before the movie was halfway done they had completely conked out, their dead weight leaning up against Chara's shoulder. Perhaps Chara should have shoved them off or tried to get up without disturbing them, but they did not. They thought instead about how comfortable they felt, how safe they were in Frisk's presence, and how they wished the moment would never end. Frisk had thoughtfully taken a shower before coming over; the faint scents of moringa and shea butter mingled with their body chemistry to create a scent that 'smells like Frisk'. Chara found themself thinking about how anyone else had to get permission to touch them, but Frisk could always get away with a little more than others. In the previous few months, though, it had become worse than that. At some point Chara went from tolerating Frisk's hugs and grabs and touches to craving them. They would find excuses to stand near Frisk, quietly hoping to be the recipient of their outpourings of emotion. Chara suddenly realized that ten whole minutes of the movie had passed them by while they were studying the light of the television screen dancing across Frisk's sleeping face. Immediately they stiffened, their internal monologue turning into an unending repetition of _what the hell what the hell what the hell _and their face began to glow red hot in the darkness_._ Part of them wanted to squirm away and give themself time to process these feelings, but most of them would not accept depriving themself of Frisk's comforting presence.

Somehow, before they had even realized it, they had started to _like_-like Frisk Dreemurr. It was pretty much the worst thing in the world. Not just because of the myriad perils of a romantic relationship with one of your oldest and best friends, but because it shattered the identity they had made for themself. They were not supposed to feel this way about people! Unlike their peers they had not been dealing with these feelings for the past two years, so they had no defense and no experience to help them. They felt blindsided and completely unprepared. Worse, they felt such an enormous pressure they could not dare make a move. It had taken years of friendship before they became attracted to even one person. Even if it were not a fluke, when could they expect to feel this way about anyone else? They could not afford to screw this up.

They were almost guaranteed to screw it up.

* * *

"You never let me have any fun," Frisk pouted. They were sporting new temporary tattoos on their shoulders, yellow-white-purple-black stripes for non-binary on their left and the magenta-yellow-cyan for pansexuality on the right, but this was a compromise position they were clearly not very fond of.

Chara retorted, "You know very well that's not true, I give in to you more often than I do not. Ugh, not like that Ree, get your mind out of the gutter!" The last comment was directed at Asriel, who had contorted his face and stuck out his tongue. Chara continued, "Your mother would burn my father black if you came back from Pride with a permanent tattoo. Please, try not to leave me an orphan for a second time."

Asriel straightened up and looked around, using his taller height to look through the crowd. "Now that you mention him, where'd dad go anyway? He's an eight-foot tall Boss Monster, he couldn't have disappeared already…"

MK piped up, "Mr. Dreemurr got pulled away two carts ago, dudes. I didn't catch most of it but it sounds like he got roped into making a speech, ha ha."

Ah, of course. Even though Asgore had not been King of the Monsters for half a decade now, he was still regarded as a leading figure. He would not be able to show up to an event without being asked to say something to commemorate the occasion, and even after extensive experience with humans he still found it hard to say 'no'. Part of it was that he still loved promoting good cheer and friendly relations, but on some level Asgore missed being king. Oh, he did not miss the responsibility, Chara was quite sure of that. Rather, he liked the looks of hope which blossomed on people's faces when they saw him. He liked to feel needed, that he was performing a vital service in any way he could. So if the organizers of the festival sold it as 'showing solidarity and support for queer monsters and humans' he of course would not be able to turn them down.

A pair of running feet came up to their side, and when Chara turned to look they found two unfamiliar humans staring at them and rapidly closing the distance. "You… you're that kid, the one the monsters brought back to life! Chara Dreemurr!"

Shit. Normally they were good about keeping their head down in public, and the whole mess was years ago so they did not get many solicitors any more. But they were big news at one time, and their red eyes made them immediately recognizable to anyone who still cared. It had been so long since they were accosted in public they had completely forgotten about it. In less time than it took to take a breath Chara felt their heart climb up their windpipe and get lodged in their throat. Their face felt frozen in a thin smile, and the ice rapidly solidified the rest of their body.

Frisk and MK deftly interposed themselves between Chara and the newcomers. Meanwhile Asriel approached them with a smile and open arms, "Yes, in fact all the Dreemurr siblings are here! We would prefer not to make a big scene, we're just attending like normal people. But… what the hey, how about you take a selfie with me? Great! Let's just go over here where the light is better…" Asriel carefully led them away, the excited humans reaching for their phones.

As their chattering voices got further away Chara felt able to breath again, though the static in their brain lingered and their heartbeat refused to slow down. Frisk hovered over them like a shroud, their faces close together. "I'm sorry I didn't see them," Frisk said in a low whisper. "Are you okay?"

Chara looked up at them. They knew if they said 'no' Frisk would drop everything to get them home. It did not matter how much fun they were having or what else they planned to do, they would leave and give up the holiday they had been looking forward to without a word of complaint. Chara took a couple deep breaths and nodded.

"You're sure?" The way Frisk asked made it clear they were not at all sure Chara was telling the truth.

Chara smiled. "I-I'll be fine. Just, took me by surprise, that's all. I, brought sunglasses, it's still pretty bright out, I'll…" Through supreme force of will they forced their fingers to stop shaking long enough to get their sunglasses out of their pocket and put them on. "There, see? Now that won't happen again."

Frisk sighed, but they were smiling. "Okay. But let me know if it's too much, okay?" Chara nodded. An hour, maybe two. They had gotten a good scare but they could hold out for at least a little longer.


	4. MK

AN: Am I eleven months late? Or were the other chapters several months early?

... sorry. Very sorry.

So, this fic is being finished in a much different environment than it started. There aren't any Pride rallies going on this year; hopefully they've only been delayed, but they may end up being canceled depending on how the remaining months go. Still, don't let that get in the way of solidarity. Hopefully this fic being finished will help remind everyone we're still together even if we can't meet right now.

Blessings to you and yours.

* * *

The parade was… something else. It had started innocently enough, with the floats and marching bands like you would expect in any parade. But after a little while some of the other participants came by, and their style of dress was anything but standard. Though summer had not quite begun yet many of the parade-goers were wearing hardly anything at all, just barely enough to not be considered obscene. They had painted their bodies in various combinations of colors and dressed in flamboyant outfits, not so much marching down the street as prancing down it. They whooped, hollered, and vamped as though they were alternatively at a beach party, a dance club, or a _different kind_ of dance club.

"And just imagine," Frisk said, waggling their eyebrows. "This is a dry Pride event. Imagine what they get up to when people are good and drunk."

Chara whirled on them, panicked. "Frisk, no."

"Up until we're 21," they relented. "But no promises after that." Chara groaned as they imagined the horrors their datefriend would inflict upon them in future years. At that moment Frisk's phone started ringing. "That's the alarm for re-upping your sunscreen. Ah, you forgot to bring more, huh? Don't worry, I brought some. Can you get your arms? When you're done I can get your face." Frisk took out a tube and squeezed some white liquid onto their fingers. Chara wordlessly held out their own hand to receive some without complaint.

MK leaned over to look. "Oh yeah," he mused. "Humans have to worry about the sun, huh? Or you'll get burns and stuff?"

Frisk nodded. "Chara has to be extra careful, 'cause their skin is so sensitive."

"Yo, couldn't you just use healing magic, or something? I know it doesn't work as well if you get set on fire or something, but it should take care of a little redness."

"No one is above consequences," Chara intoned in a way which usually accompanied their eyes turning black. They smeared the liquid over the pale skin on their arms until it thinned and blended invisibly.

Asriel rolled his eyes. "You don't have to be dramatic about it. Ugh, keep that stuff away from me Frisk! If any of that gets in my fur you're helping clean it out!"

"Chara's always been like that," Frisk hummed. "They insist on suffering for their own mistakes. Which wouldn't be so bad if they were better about taking care of themself…"

"Nag, nag, nag," Chara grumbled.

MK started looking around again, the lotion application ritual having already lost his interest. "Oh!" he said, standing on the tips of his toes. "There's Papyrus! Papyrus is here!"

Papyrus was wearing a dark suit and tie, though the tiara on his forehead kept him from appearing too stodgy. MK was there when they were getting the fitting on the suit right: not so tight that his ribs were visible underneath but not so loose he was swimming in them. The tailors had some trouble with him since his proportions were strange, so the standard practice of making the shoulders broad only made Papyrus' head look tiny. But, after a bit of work and experimentation it made him look suave and sophisticated, even if it lacked the unique and iconic charm of his "ambassador attire". The lapel of the suit was decorated with two pins with mostly shades of gray colors: graysexual and grayromantic. This led to an almost sedate lack of scandal in his private life, much to the chagrin of the tabloids and the fringe remnants of the anti-monster factions. There were persistent rumors that Papyrus had a quiet relationship with the big-and-small screen megastar Mettaton due to their friendship and the chemistry they had together in their rare public meetings, but they remained only rumors due to the difficulty of imagining either of them having a quiet anything.

Papyrus saw them almost as soon as MK saw him. Papyrus brightened up and marched over, pumping his arms as he went. "Hello!" He greeted with a huge wave. "If it isn't my number one fan and their friends!"

"Nice to see you too Papyrus," Chara said, rubbing the last of the lotion on their forehead before replacing their sunglasses.

Asriel smiled. "Howdy. Glad you could show up today."

"But of course! Even if I were not the mayor, I would be remiss if I were to skip showing support for the human community. How about you? Are you having fun?"

"Uh huh!" Frisk said. They curled their bicep and pulled up their sleeve to show off their temporary tattoo. "Look at this!"

"Nice! Papyrus approves!" He rubbed his chin. "But MK, don't you need to prepare for your Smashing Fighters tournament next week?"

MK shook his head. "It's good to spend time relaxing, too, or I'll be too wound up to compete. Besides, I got some new techs and combos they won't see coming! It's in the bag!"

"Well said! I'll see if I can make it in time for the finals, so don't you lose before then!"

It was nice of him to mention MK first. Even though everyone knew the whole story now, many still considered Frisk the hero of the Underground regardless of the truth. Chara was the First Human, the person who stunned the world by coming back to life more than thirty years after their death. And Asriel, on top of being revived, was the Prince of Monsters. Compared to them he was just… MK. He would not trade his life for theirs, not after learning of everything they went through, but to the rest of the world he was much less important or famous than any of their best friends. With, of course, the notable exception of Papyrus, who must have sensed his jealousy early on and took steps to ensure that, at least with one person, the royal children would be referred to as his friends and not the other way around. Coming from anyone else it would have seemed patronizing, but the skeleton was so sincere it was hard to fault him for anything.

"Good luck with your own re-election campaign," Asriel said.

Papyrus gave him a military salute. "Knowing I have your support is good enough for me, nyeh heh heh! Maybe not this time, but the next time I'll be happy to accept your votes as well!" The teens all agreed.

* * *

Not long after starting to go to school on the surface MK decided it was going to make an honest attempt to discover what it was. It could not be sure where this desire came from; certainly not from its family or its neighbors or any of the monsters. Monsters decided on their gender on their own time and at their own pace. The prince Asriel had known he was a boy by age 5, which was a bit early but not unusually so. Some monsters never settled on a gender identity at all, or changed at one or more points of their life, but that was not what MK wanted. MK wanted to know for sure and forever. So his first week on the surface he told everyone he was going to try out being a boy. Everyone nodded and thought that was a good idea, and they all referred to him as 'he' from that point on. And for a few days this felt good. Right. Fitting. Up until being called a boy did not feel right at all. One of his friends mentioned him while talking to someone else, and the word 'him' felt like a lance through his chest. He could not explain where the pain came from but the experiment ended and he went back to 'it'. Even if this did not feel right, that was at least a familiar form of wrong. The next week she tried again, this time trying out a girl identity. And just like before, she really liked it right up until she did not like being a girl at all.

Over the next month he went back and forth, back and forth, neither option appealing to her for long enough to make a decision. She thought he was going crazy; when she felt like a girl she could not understand why she had ever thought she could be a boy, but then a few days later he felt like a boy and that condescension from the girl MK seemed completely misplaced. His mind could not decide one way or the other long-term, but in the moment it was absolutely sure of its current decision. Hearing of her plight some of the neighborhood monsters told him about 'genderfluid' persons; their gender identity could change any day or at any time, and never settled on just one thing. He cried a lot that day. It did not feel fair that all he wanted was a bit of stability and he would never have it. But over time he came to grips with it. When he felt like a boy, he was a boy. When she felt like a girl, she was a girl. That was all there was to it even if that sounded strange to anyone else.

MK took to wearing gender signifiers like hats, pins, or bows, to demonstrate how he was feeling at particular times. This was not strictly necessary, but it felt less awkward than having to tell everyone, "I'm a boy/girl today" over and over for the rest of his life. He knew Chara and Frisk preferred the singular "they" pronoun, but it never sat right with him. Even if he was not feeling particularly strongly toward one gender or the other he would prefer to make a decision and run with it than settle for an in-between state. And everyone insisted it was fine. In the end he was glad to have that system of support even if it was not what he had wanted. Ultimately everyone had to be comfortable in their own identity.

* * *

An hour later Asriel stopped in place to yawn and stretch. "Well, I'm beat. How about we call it a day?"

MK tilted his head to the side. "There's still a couple hours left before the end," he said. "Aren't you having fun?"

"I'm having a great time," he said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not also ready to go home." Asriel's eyes flicked over to the side, toward where Chara and Frisk were holding hands. Frisk was looking at Asriel in concern. Chara's expression was difficult to read through their smile and with dark glasses hiding their eyes. But their left hand, the one not in Frisk's, had formed into a fist and trembled from barely-restrained stress. MK looked back to Asriel and it seemed his eyes were pleading for MK to notice.

"You know what, dudes?" MK said, faking a yawn. "Now that you mention it, my feet are getting kind of tired too. Maybe it would be better if we went home."

Frisk puffed. "What do you think, Chara?"

Chara shrugged. "I could go on, but it appears we are outvoted. Perhaps we should acquiesce?"

Frisk's face solidified like rock, all emotion washed from it. They studied Chara for a moment, then their grimace thawed and was replaced by a knowing smile. "Sure," they said softly. "It's been fun but we've had a busy day. Let's call it."

"There you are!" Everyone turned to see Asgore jogging up, looking a bit flushed. "I've been looking for you. Sorry for leaving so suddenly, I just couldn't get away. But everyone liked my speech and I got to meet lots of new people. So! Ready to enjoy the festival?"

"Uh," Asriel said with a wince. "We were… actually thinking of heading home."

Asgore blinked. "Oh." His shoulders drooped, though he straightened himself back up when he saw Chara. It was no surprise he was good at reading his own child's mood. "I suppose there's no helping it. I should not have let myself get talked into so much work on what was supposed to be a day off. You didn't get in any trouble while I was gone, did you?"

"We were fine!" Frisk said, leading to quick agreement by their friends.

"Good! That's good. I believe the car is this way… are any of you tired enough to need carrying?"

"Da~ad!" Chara whined. "We're teenagers! It's not cute for us to fall asleep getting carried by our dad anymore."

"Besides," Asriel concurred. "You shouldn't stress yourself like that. We keep getting heavier, and you're not getting any younger."

Asgore idly stroked the hair of his mane, which had acquired a few grays over the last few years. "Yes… I suppose that's true." His words did not carry the tone those words usually did in this situation, sounding far more happy and joyful than anyone would expect. "Alright, kids! Time to head home!"


End file.
